


National City Annual Charity Ball

by Musetotheworld



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Kara needs a date to get her sources, at least kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 23:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13134717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: She knows it's a test. She knows she's supposed to fail. But Kara is resourceful, and she's going to prove to Snapper that he's still underestimating what she's capable of.





	National City Annual Charity Ball

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catherinegrant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinegrant/gifts).



> Merry Christmas Mayka!

Kara let her head drop to her desk as she hung up the phone. Another dead end, another refusal. How she's going to write about an event she can't attend is beyond her, but she can't fail. Not when it's clear Snapper is testing her.

She's not used to hearing 'no' from so many angles these days. She'd been welcome anywhere as Cat's assistant, doors opening as if by magic whenever she asked. And okay, maybe she'd been asking on Cat's behalf. And maybe there had been an exchange of favors to get those invitations and reservations. But she'd still gotten them!

Now she's calling with nothing more than her own name, and without any leverage. She can't make deals on Cat's behalf any longer, can't promise anything that's actually worth something. And it's frustrating.

Pulling up a web browser and searching for another angle, Kara starts to wonder if she can actually pull this off. National City's annual charity ball is always reserved for the city's elite. As a junior reporter, she definitely doesn't qualify.

But Snapper wants an article with quotes, and the press isn't allowed inside to mingle. So unless Kara manages to wrangle interviews on the walk up the only way to get those quotes is as an invited guest. And from the times she's followed along behind Cat as an assistant, she knows entry interviews are practically nonexistent when the lure of an open bar drowns them out.

It's not until Kara is seriously debating the various merits of hovering over the venue using her super hearing versus having Winn forge her an invitation that the solution to her problem presents itself.

"Hasn't Snapper taught you stories don't fall in your lap if you're sitting behind a desk?" Cat asks from the doorway, causing Kara's head to snap up in surprise. 

The last she'd heard Cat was in Washington, unable to get away for more than a weekend here and there to visit Carter. There's no way to explain what Cat is doing here now, not on a random Tuesday in the middle of the day.

"He has," Kara finally says when Cat tilts her head with a smirk. "But right now I think he's trying to teach me the importance of networking."

The smirk deepens as Cat walks into the small office, carefully shutting the door behind herself before crossing to sit in front of Kara's desk as if it's her own office. "Let me guess, he gave you an impossible assignment you don't have the connections to pull off?"

"National City Charity Ball," Kara sighs, looking back at her computer as if something new will have popped up in the last two minutes. "With quotes, not just general coverage. But plates are over ten grand apiece, and I don't have anything worth promising to swing a free invite."

The gentle sound of Cat's laugh sends a shiver down Kara's spine, a reminder of the old attraction she'd fought so hard to bury. There hadn't been a chance of anything happening before, and Kara's learned to spot a hopeless battle when she sees it. Easier to push the feelings away that hold onto hope that won't pan out.

"He's getting creative. Usually he picks half buried departments no one has even heard of." Cat sounds genuinely amused, and Kara has to fight down a groan in response. If Cat is that entertained by the situation it's got to be dire.

"I'd prefer a random government department any day," she complains, glaring at her still silent computer. Some government department would be a piece of cake for her. She has an entire department of government agents willing to help, including a sister who never gives up and a best friend that can hack any system.

"Which Snapper undoubtedly realizes," Cat points out. "Besides, the lesson about networking is to help illustrate things you don't already know. And he knows you already learned the skills you'd need for that. Assistants talk, and assistants know everything."

Kara has to nod agreement at that, she's already gotten a few stories and sources by asking the assistants on the scene. The shared experiences and sense of camaraderie had gotten her all the information she'd needed, and Cat was right. Assistants really did know everything.

Which is no doubt why Snapper had assigned this one to her. She could track down the smallest of connections, had learned and honed that skill accomplishing all the various things Cat asked of her on a daily basis. But this? This was beyond what she could do on her own.

"Does he expect me to fail, then?"

"Oh, I'm sure he does," Cat says, waving one hand dismissively. "It's an old trick. Give the student an impossible task, then point out why it was so impossible when they fail. In this case, he'd stress the importance of having a solid network of favors already built and waiting before an assignment is given, rather than dashing about trying to build it after the fact."

Kara wants to protest that she knows all that, that she still has an entire Facebook group dedicated to all the bonds she'd made as Cat's assistant. It's still active these days, with Eve and the others in the group using it to trade favors and track down reservations when they need them. And she's used it herself to find tips and stories since she'd gotten her promotion.

But she knows Cat doesn't care for whining, doesn't care for excuses. And while Kara might already know that particular lesson, she's been slacking as a reporter. She still has to balance her time as a CatCo employee and as Supergirl, and it's been easier to fall back on old friends than to make new ones.

"Well that's not very comforting," is all the complaint she voices. Whether it's unfair or not she's a big girl, she can deal with it.

"No, it's not supposed to be," Cat agrees. "But then, Snapper is an ass who's been known to push lessons home harder than they need."

"Tell me about it," Kara mutters, remembering a few particularly sharp rebukes that still sting. So what if he'd been right about her bias? She was allowed to have emotions about a device that would single her and others like her out as a potential threat simply because of who they are. "At least when you yelled at me I knew there was a reason, and when you were teaching me something I could tell you cared."

"Not every boss will coddle you, Kara. Sometimes you get the angry bastards who swing at the world the only way they can." Cat doesn't sound apologetic, but Kara knows her better than that. There's a hint of buried guilt for those years of rants and careless insults, all the apology Cat can give without a few glasses of scotch to ease the passing.

"I know, but just once I'd like to surprise him and actually pass one of his tests. I'm sure he'd still yell at me, but maybe I'd feel better about it. Like I'd managed to impress him."

"He hasn't fired you yet, I'd say you're impressing him well enough." The words would mean more if he hadn't all but refused to hire her in the first place, but Kara clings to the comfort all the same.

Cat doesn't seem busy, a strange turn of events from the woman Kara had grown used to over the years. She's used to Cat always rushing off to the next challenge, the next height to overcome. But if Cat is willing to sit in a tiny windowless office for half an hour discussing a career that isn't hers, a position writing puff pieces and occasionally actual stories, Kara isn't going to argue. She'll soak it in instead, hold it close when Cat is back in Washington and Kara only gets to see her when she turns on the TV.

Somewhere around Cat's criticism of her prose (so much more helpful than Snapper's usual 'get it right' vitriol) Kara has an idea. A potentially crazy idea that would make her worry she'd taken a punch to the head a bit too hard lately if she'd fought anything but regular human bank robbers in the past few weeks.

"I think I know how to pass Snapper's test," she says excitedly, interrupting Cat out of sheer enthusiasm.

"Oh, do tell," Cat asks, a smirk playing across her face that tells Kara she'd had the same idea already. Probably as soon as she'd heard the assignment. It explains why she'd been willing to sit around, she'd been waiting for Kara's mind to catch up.

"I'm supposed to be learning the importance of networking and having connections already in place, right?" Kara asks as Cat nods. "And there's no way I could get into the charity ball on my own. But what if I just so happened to have the number of a certain CEO saved in my phone, one that's a regular attendee at events just like this?"

"Then I'd say you have an in," Cat says proudly, leaning back in the chair as her smirk fades to a genuine smile. "You have a unique series of connections, Kara. Never be afraid to use them."

"Well then, Miss Grant, what can I offer you in trade for an invitation to the ball?"

The moment the words fall from Kara's lips she wants to hide, to take them back and pretend this had never happened. Surely facing Snapper's wrath will be easier than the horror she feels at making a horribly suggestive, and completely unintentional, innuendo to her old boss.

Thankfully a sharp glance and look of complete disbelief is Cat's only reaction, and Kara breathes a quick sigh of relief that there hadn't been anything more. Her usual innocent demeanor is apparently still offering some shred of protection. No one would believe Sunny Danvers could so blatantly proposition someone like that. Especially not someone like Cat Grant.

"What do you mean trade me? Why not go play nice with Lena Luthor? She'd probably fall over herself to take you if asked."

"Oh, Lena doesn't go to charity events like this," Kara disagrees. "Anything with a Luthor on the guest list is an immediate target. She's used that to draw criminals out in the past, in fact."

That gets a thoughtful nod, and Cat settles deeper into the chair as she gives Kara a searching look. "She could still buy you a ticket. I know there are several available."

"A ticket, yes, but not a cover story," Kara points out. "No one goes to these things alone, I'd stand out. And Snapper has already given me the lecture on working to fit in if I want people to open up."

"So you think what, going on Cat Grant's arm will work? They'll dismiss you instantly, Kara. Think you're some midlife crisis of mine without a thought in your head." Cat is working up to a full rant, and Kara dares to cut her off before she gets really going.

"Exactly." The look on Cat's face at the interruption nearly has Kara giggling in delight, but she knows she needs to stay serious for this. She has to convince Cat this is the best plan. "If they underestimate me they're more likely to gush about the event, assuming I'm so scatterbrained I want nothing but the gaudy details. That'll make for the best quotes, and if they let something else slip because they underestimate me, well then I'll have a story for the next issue all ready to go."

"You do make a compelling point," Cat says eventually. "They will underestimate you, and you can use that to your advantage. But this could backfire, Kara. It won't be only the stuffed suits at the ball, you'll walk past every reporter in National City on the way in. And they won't underestimate you. They'll tear you to shreds, accuse you of sleeping your way to this job and every article you publish after this."

"I don't care what they say as long as my name keeps showing up on the bylines."

***

When the night of the ball arrives and Kara finds herself preparing to make a grand entrance at Cat's side, she begins to second guess the entire plan.

Oh, she's not regretting what people might say about her. She's heard all that and worse over the years between her tenure as Cat's assistant and the steep learning curve she'd been through as Supergirl. If anything, she wishes these particular rumors could have more than a single-sided grain of truth to them.

No, she's just nervous. Dressed in a gown Cat had hand-picked for her, looking every inch of the part she's playing tonight, Kara realizes how little she fits into this world. On Earth she's Supergirl and Kara Danvers both, but neither of those people is someone usually invited to events like this. And on Krypton there had been an entirely different set of rules and expectations, nothing to give her any sense of familiarity here.

"Relax, Kara," Cat says as they pull up, resting a calming hand on her forearm for the barest second. They've both agreed to keep the affectionate touches to a minimum to help insulate Kara from the potential backlash as much as possible, but Kara is thankful for it now. "We just have to get inside, then we can mingle to get you used to the place. Once you're settled, I'll wander off so you can get quotes without my presence putting a damper on things."

That's the part that really scares Kara, the thought of facing down all these rich people without Cat as a buffer and constant protection. She's not used to this, she's used to punching criminals and swapping favors with assistants. Not subtly pumping city officials for information and quotable lines.

"Just don't go too far, please?" she finally asks, composure and determination breaking the slightest bit as she admits she needs Cat. It's nothing new for them, Kara has always been outspoken about the ways Cat helps her, but somehow tonight it seems different. Raw and vulnerable, a more honest emotion than they usually allow themselves to show.

"I'll be within earshot, don't worry," Cat says, studying Kara carefully before swinging her door open and facing the flashes shot their way. 

The hand extended to help Kara slide from the car is steady, a grounding point of certainty that Kara allows herself to cling to until they're inside. It's more contact than they'd discussed, but it's still safe. Still innocent. Still something Kara can play off if any of her coworkers try to call her on it.

The ballroom is beautiful, and for long moments Kara forgets the entire point of the evening as she follows Cat around. Where before she'd been nervous now she's anything but, steadied by Cat's seemingly constant gentle smile and the warmth in her voice.

If anything could count as the night backfiring, it's the way Kara feels when Cat introduces her as a date, the soft lilt of her voice settling over her like a warm blanket. There's a world of welcome to the words that Kara has to shake off more than once, knowing this is just a ruse. It's a way for her to get the quotes and information she needs from the evening and nothing more.

By the time Cat leaves her alone with a comment about grabbing a few drinks from the bar, Kara has managed to get her emotions mostly under control. It's not perfect, but then Kara hasn't ever managed to fully conquer the sense of longing she feels when she looks at Cat, she's just gotten better at shoving it away. But when it comes to standing at Cat's side when she's in a dress that looks like that, one that perfectly complements the dress Kara is wearing, the dress Cat had picked out herself for the evening, that's an entirely different story.

Tonight, her feelings aren't buried so much as shoved to the side and ignored while they screech loudly. Distracting, mildly unwelcome given how unlikely any relationship would be, but not going anywhere.

But she wouldn't have survived long as Cat's assistant without learning to work in the face of distraction, and before long Kara has a few excellent quotes from some of National City's premier officials on the importance of tonight's event. More than enough to keep Snapper off her back, and with a few dropped comments that could spin into full stories of their own. As far as her job goes, the night is undoubtedly a resounding success.

Just as Kara thinks that she hears Max's voice from across the room, and Cat's immediately after as she answers the question with a tone of disdain. It's a feeling Kara still agrees with completely, for all that he'd helped defeat Myriad. That earns him continued freedom and survival, but not an erasure of all the bad will she's wished his way over the years.

Walking quickly to Cat's side and wishing she could simply speed across the room in a split second, Kara tries to keep a calm and pleasant look on her face to avoid attracting unwanted attention. The last thing they want to do is cause a scene, but that doesn't mean she can leave Cat stuck talking to Max alone for longer than she has to.

"Cat, there you are," she exclaims as she walks up, forcing a sense of levity to her words that's at complete odds with the glare she's giving Max. "I thought you were grabbing us drinks, but you've been gone for ages now."

"I’m sorry, darling. Max was trying to tell me something and I got a little sidetracked. What was it you were explaining, Max? Something about your latest love life woes, wasn't it?" Cat's words are honeyed, dripping with false cheer as she mirrors Kara's glare.

"I was just commenting on how lovely you looked, Cat. I didn't realize you'd brought a date." Max doesn't retreat, he's too cocky and self-assured to realize when the odds are stacked against him. But Kara isn't interested in facing him head on, not tonight. He's not worth it.

"She did, and you'll have to forgive me for stealing her away," Kara says, resting a hand on Cat's forearm as she stares him down. "The orchestra tonight is stunning and we haven't gotten a chance to dance yet."

"Wouldn't want to get in the way of that," Max says, but Kara is already leading Cat towards the dance floor. She isn't sure whether they'll actually dance, but it makes for a convenient excuse. Anything to get as far away from him as possible.

"I can handle Max, you know," Cat says when their pace finally slows. "He's irritating and entirely too smug for one person, but he's easy to manipulate if you know his weaknesses. In the end, he's fairly harmless."

"He was willing to blow up eight percent of the population, that's not exactly harmless," Kara huffs, forgetting they haven't officially had the 'oh hey I'm Supergirl' conversation until Cat looks at her with a shrewd grin.

But she doesn't push it, not in the middle of a charity ball full of civilians. Instead she offers a hand to Kara and finishes leading them to the dance floor. "Did you get what you came for?" she asks as they begin to sway.

Kara's brain may be short circuiting at the feel of Cat pressed against her, but she's used to answering Cat's questions no matter how distracted she may be. "I think I did," she manages to get out, wrapping her arms a little tighter around Cat. If they only have this dance, this moment that may be nothing more than a convenient escape from Max, Kara wants to have it all. 

"Are you sure? There's nothing else you wanted from your evening?" The look on Cat's face is a strange mix of suggestive and vulnerable, and Kara can feel her heart speed up as she takes in the meaning.

Maybe her hopeless dreams aren't so hopeless after all, maybe this night hasn't been nothing more than a fruitless look at what she can never have.

"I mean, I have a few more wishes, but someone once told me you can't have everything at the same time or all at once," she whispers, daring Cat to take the lead the way she always has. There's a single step left between them, the slightest distance that neither seems willing to cross.

A standoff, a hesitation on both sides. Crossing the divide will take more courage than either is prepared to muster, and the song ends before a move is made.

But now that they've made it this close, they're not prepared to pull away, and they spin through another few dances as the music continues around them. There's an inherent dare to the whole thing, a sense of inevitability that they can't escape. As if eventually, even if no one takes that single step, the universe itself will push them together.

"Maybe I was wrong," Cat whispers after several dances, finally breaking the silence between them. "I don't think it would be easy, but maybe you can have what you want, if you're willing to work for it. It would never be perfect, but at least it would be something."

The words are that push, and without a second thought Kara leans her head down, stopping only long enough to whisper her answer against Cat's lips before claiming them in a kiss that's been too long in coming.

"I've never wanted perfection. Only you."

  
  



End file.
